Kentucky Kernel: March 3, 2022

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Thursday, March 3, 2022 est. 1892 | Independent since 1971

BACK ON THE DANCE FLOOR | 4

Thursday, March 3, 2022

news

By Evelyn Mickschl news@kykernel.com

Ukraine and Russia are currently clashing in a conflict. There have been no outside troops involved so far, but the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has put extreme sanctions in place against Russia.

The actions taken “target nearly 80 percent of all banking assets in Russia and will have a deep and long-lasting effect on the Russian economy and financial system,” according to the Public Relations Department of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

These actions do not take place in a vacuum, though. Russia is the world’s biggest exporter of wheat. It is also the second largest exporter of crude and refined petroleum and the fourth largest exporter of petroleum gas.

Petroleum is the base of transportation fuel, asphalt, road oil, fuel for heating and electricity generation.

It is one of the basic materials for making the chemicals, plastics and synthetic materials that are in nearly everything consumers use.

The world consumed, in total, about 96.5 million barrels of oil daily in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency.

According to the U.S.

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A student perspective on Russia-Ukraine Energy Information Administration, the U.S. consumed about 19.78 million barrels of oil daily in 2021.

With Russia, who produces about 12% of the world’s global oil, so heavily sanctioned, prices of gas are skyrocketing quickly.

This has an immediate effect on the U.S. as a whole.

“Gas prices already went up, literally in a matter of two days they went from $3.29 to $3.49,” junior Tasia Chapman said.

“With other countries standing behind Ukraine, I think it’s important, but I think it’s going to have a negative impact on the economy and in world history in general … Russia holds a lot of resources that different nations use, and if people go against Russia, who’s to say they aren’t going to go back against us and go, ‘Well, you can’t use our resources.’”

There have been massive evacuations from Ukraine; over 500,000 refugees have fled to neighboring countries since Feb. 28, according to the head of the UN Refugee Agency.

This mass movement is likely going to cause a change in refugee procedures going forward. With a precedent in place of these countries opening their borders so quickly, if there is a similar situation, questions will arise of if that speed

JACK WEAVER | STAFF People hold up signs during a gathering in support of Ukraine on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, at Courthouse Plaza in Lexington, Kentucky.

will happen again, and why that might not happen.

This mass immigration also raises questions about racism in Europe. Thousands of African students have been denied exit from the country, specifically because of their race.

“Africans had to figure out other ways to leave … so it’s kind of like, as a minority, it’s like dang, I’m over here in America feeling sorry for them, but then

y’all are being discriminatory to people who look like me, even amidst y’all’s circumstances,” Chapman said.

Social media has been prominent in exposing these issues, with TikTok and Twitter spreading the news extremely fast.

Ukraine is also using this to their advantage, using their Twitter to increase attention towards their situation.

“It’ll be the most

well-documented war we’ve ever seen. People literally have phones in their pockets. I mean, you have TikTok videos of troops … so I think this will change how war is documented, and how we view the war, especially once it’s over,” junior Karter Luttrell said.

The invasion of Ukraine is the largest mobilization of forces in Europe since World War II. Putin mobilized his forces in response

to Ukraine’s desire to join NATO. Some of his demands for ending the invasion of Ukraine are Ukraine never joining NATO and the retraction of NATO forces and military infrastructure from member states in the east, which are Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics.

These demands have been met with negative responses, but further negotiations are in the works.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Humans of UK:

kentuckykernel

Aaron Garcia cooks up big plans

By Charlotte Hauck features@kykernel.com

This is Humans of UK, inspired by the Humans of New York Instagram series by photographer and author Brandon Stanton.

This series dives into the individuals of UK as well as their stories, strifes and passions.

Aaron Garcia is a student at the University of Kentucky, and on March 31, he will also be a restaurant owner.

His restaurant, Castello’s, will open in South Oakland Village at 4371 Old Harrodsburg Road. “It’s a build-your-own pasta bowl restaurant,” he said. “Think Chipotle, but with pasta.”

Garcia is a senior studying electrical engineering with a minor in business. While studying these subjects, he decided to grow in entrepreneurial skills that were essential in starting his own business.

When Garcia was

JACK WEAVER | STAFF Aaron Garcia poses for a portrait on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, at the Gatton College of Business in Lexington, Kentucky.

just a sophomore, he planned to launch an Italian restaurant.

However, after seeing the initial impact that COVID-19 had on small businesses and finding a lack of investment opportunities, his team decided to wait out these effects of the pandemic.

Garcia was excited to share the progress that the restaurant is

making and will make in the coming weeks.

“We have a rotation printed out … and our building sign is supposed to arrive sometime this week,” he said. “I have a payroll system, so I just need to add the staff.”

Outside of he and his business partner, Garcia said he was unaware of any other UK students who

were starting their own businesses.

UK does not have a formal entrepreneurship program to offer its students. However, Garcia said that the university does have events that could be great opportunities for students to participate in if given the chance.

One such event, UK’s PNC Wildcat Pitch Competition, allows students to create a business plan and compete for a spot in the final round where they present their plans in front of a panel of judges.

The 2022 competition will be held on April 23 and awards seed money to the winners.However, he said there is still room for improvement, and that UK could hold more of these events that promote student entrepreneurship.

Garcia believes that though he could be successful if he continued down the path of becoming an engineer, “nothing will compare to a successful business.”

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KENTUCKY KERNEL OFFICES 340 McVey Hall University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506

On the cover:

STAFF FILE PHOTO Students participate in a line dance during the 24 hour DanceBlue marathon at 3:10 a.m. on Sunday, March 1, 2020, at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.

On the back cover:

MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF Kentucky Wildcats guard Rhyne Howard is recognized before the UK vs. Auburn womens basketball game on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.

spring 2022 | 3

Thursday, March 3, 2022

news

STAFF FILE PHOTO Students participate in a line dance during the 24 hour DanceBlue marathon at 2:05 a.m. on Sunday, March 1, 2020, at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.

Looking ahead to DanceBlue 2022

By Sophia Shoemaker news@kykernel.com

DanceBlue 2022 is taking place on March 5 and 6. A student-run organization, DanceBlue raises money for the Golden Matrix Fund, which supports kids at the DanceBlue Kentucky Children’s Hospital Hematology/Oncology Clinic.

DanceBlue works year-round to fundraise, although the main event is this Saturday and Sunday. A 24-hour, no sitting, no sleeping dance marathon brings hundreds of participants to Memorial Coliseum.

The organization began raising money in 2006. Since then, DanceBlue has raised

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over $18 million for the Golden Matrix Fund.

DanceBlue was created in support of a boy named Jarrett Mynear. He was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer at age 2 and with various other forms of cancer six times by the time he was 14. Despite being sick, Jarrett was smart, personable and positive. Before he passed away in 2002, he created a list of requests. One of those was to raise funds to improve the Pediatric Oncology Outpatient Clinic at Kentucky Children’s Hospital.

In its first year, DanceBlue raised $123,323.16, making it one of the fastestgrowing dance marathons in the United States.

Due to COVID-19, the DanceBlue

event was held virtually in 2021 and raised $2,000,190.20 for the Golden Matrix Fund. Despite the virtual setback, DanceBlue still raised $1,011,115.49 in total that year.

This year, the dance marathon will be held in person, hosting 79 teams with a total of 549 dancers. Each individual must be on a team and is required to raise a minimum of $389 in order to participate.

Because of the pandemic, spectators will only be allowed from 5-8 p.m. on Sunday, March 6. All attendees will be required to wear masks.

“The heart of our mission is to establish a community of care for families facing one of the hardest times in their lives,” said Millie Malek, the DanceBlue

2022 Family Relations Chair, in an interview with UKnow. “A critical factor in creating and maintaining this community is doing our best to ensure the safety of the kids, families, and staff that we aim to support.”

Being a dancer isn’t the only way to get involved with DanceBlue. There are 198 volunteers signed up for the marathon on March 5 and 6. “While we are excited to fundraise and have community support, our focus is not on the number we raise,” Jennifer Derk, DanceBlue 2022 marketing chair, said.

In order to participate, students can become a dancer, volunteer or donate to DanceBlue. For more information, visit danceblue.org.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

news

Campus workers union rally held at Kentucky State Capitol

By Kendall Staton news@kykernel.com

United Campus Workers for Kentucky hosted the Rally for Truth and Fairness at the Capitol Annex Building in Frankfort, Kentucky, on Feb. 23.

UCWK advocates for better treatment of essential workers and teachers’ rights in Kentucky.

At the rally, its members called for the state to give working Kentuckians a helping hand, protect the safety of Kentucky workers and protect Kentucky educators’ right to teach the truth.

UCWK asked for the disbursement of American Rescue Plan funds dedicated to essential workers and improvement of worker safety measures in Kentucky. They also advocated for protection of educator’s rights to have honest discussions on race, sex and religion in the classroom.

The rally drew participants from multiple chapters of UCWK, including those from the University of Kentucky.

One of the main topics highlighted was the resistance of Kentucky state legislators in giving essential workers the federal money set aside for them.

Cory Pollard, a custodian at UK, shared that since the beginning of the pandemic, he has not received any hazardous work pay from the government or the university. Other than the federal stimulus checks that were distributed to everyone, Pollard received no additional monetary

MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF The Kentucky State Capitol on Friday, Jan. 29, 2021, in Frankfort, Kentucky.

aid.

“During the beginning of the pandemic, we were, of course, essential. For the first bit, anyway, we were not allowed to take any time off, and we were required to come in,” he said.

Pollard felt as though UK expected the custodial staff to perform a more thorough cleaning job during their shifts as compared to pre-pandemic expectations, yet they were given no pay increase to compensate for their increased workload.

The Rally for Truth and Fairness also aimed to protect the right of honest discussion in classrooms by protesting House Bill 138, which would limit a teacher’s freedom to hold honest conversation about race, religion, sex and other topics in the classroom if passed.

While this bill currently only applies to K-12 teachers, there is concern it will soon extend to limit higher education institutions as well.

Johnna Warkentine, a Russian

studies and linguistics double major at UK, attended the rally in support of all UCWK’s objectives but felt as though House Bill 138 has not received as much attention as it deserves.

Through their previous work in early childhood education, Warkentine has seen firsthand that children can understand these topics and deserve to be educated on them.

“In my experience, even young kids, they pick up on stuff,” Warkentine said. “They

learn from adults, and they have questions, and we should be able to answer them.”

Warkentine currently has high school-aged brothers, but believes everyone has a stake in House Bill 138, whether they think it would directly impact their education or not.

“I care that students in my state are educated because those are the people that I’m going to be around and interacting with,” Warkentine said. “As people get older, it’s important for them to be educated and learn things. Not being able to do that is negative.”

Pollard and Warkentine both felt like the UCWK rally was a step toward their overall goal — giving working Kentuckians the proper benefits and rights they deserve.

Both mentioned a previous caucus meeting UCWK attended in December addressing similar issues. Warkentine noted the high level of support they received at the December meeting from working Kentuckians asking for distribution of ARP funds to essential workers.

Pollard believes UCWK has begun to make an impact on legislation and public conversation through media coverage and speaking out at meetings.

“This is the second time we’ve gone, and we’ve talked about it and addressed our opinions about it,” Pollard said. “I feel like the more times we do it and the more we push for it, we will succeed in getting what we want.”

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Thursday, March 3, 2022

news

UK Patterson School of Diplomacy holds crisis simulation

By Alexa Caponigro news@kykernel.com

The Patterson School of Diplomacy hosted the 2022 Crisis Simulation this past weekend, Feb. 24-26. Members of five different teams met on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Patterson Hall to discuss this year’s speculative scenario, a Venezuelan crisis.

The simulation teams consisted of Venezuela, the United States, Peru, China and Colombia. Each team member held a key position like a team mentor, team leader, intelligence and security, diplomacy and military attaché. The teams representing Colombia, Peru and China also contained undergraduate students.

The scenario began with the Peruvian government and the United Nations calling for a meeting in Lima, Peru, to discuss the Venezuelan migration crisis. The mass influx of Venezuelan emigrants caused strife in the economic, political and social dispositions in neighboring countries.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resources and infrastructure became overwhelmed by people who contracted the virus.

The simulation was created so students could come to an agreement and amend the issues laid out through a variety of team meetings, press conferences and rounds to discuss further negotiations.

Nicole Bagby, the intelligence and security liaison for Venezuela, found the simulation to be more laid-back and less struc-

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CORRIE MCCROSKEY I STAFF Lanyards for the crisis simulation are sorted in Patterson Hall on Friday, Feb. 25, 2021, in Lexington, Kentucky.

tured than the previous one held at Patterson Hall “We were given a Twitter account, so being able to tweet, go to the press and make our own decisions — I liked it a lot,” Bagby said.

Even with the freedom of decisions, the student-led countries still faced many challenges during the simulation. Bagby explained that each country had “red lines” – information they could not admit or negotiate. In Bagby’s case, her biggest red line was withholding how corrupt the Venezuelan government is. Thus,

Bagby could not explain the current extent of the migrant crisis, making it harder to negotiate and plead her case.

“Defending [Venezuelan President] Maduro and his government that we do not agree with, knowing he is corrupt, like hurting the economy … it got hard seeing yourself as the bad guy, but also trying to tell everyone else that we are not the bad guys,” Bagby said.

Although the simulation was a challenge, Bagby thought it was great to receive a different point of view and take a step back to

fully understand different positions.

Specifically, in her role as intelligence and security liaison, she was pulled out of meetings to receive intel and relinquish any information the delegation may have decided to share. This aspect helped the team gather different ideas to come to a conclusion on future negotiation points.

“It was nice to be pulled out and be told, ‘This is what is going on,’ or ‘This is what you need to decide to do,’” she said. “It was kind of nice to work with the team, but also to be pulled off, be

in my own thoughts and create an approach.”

Sarah Gossett, a team mentor, offered insight into the craziness of the simulation. The Simulation Control team implemented a variety of new ideas to keep things fresh during this simulation.

“There were teams who were kidnapping other members,” Gossett said. “You would get a note saying, ‘Help me, I’ve been kidnapped.’”

Bagby also thought the simulation was interesting because when she was given information, she did not have to give the full truth. For example, when tweets were sent out, each country had its own discretion on lying or being completely honest.

Overall, Bagby said she made a great connection with current events in regards to Ukraine and Russia.

“It makes you wonder, do they only give out the information that helps that country, or was this something we only did in the simulation?” Bagby said.

Furthermore, Bagby pondered on the thought of leniency: if countries are actually allowed to leave out that much information or if the simulation allotted that freedom. She said a lot of insight can be learned through foreign negotiations.

“I think the biggest lesson to be learned is the frustration of diplomacy – the fact you can go days, weeks or maybe even months of negotiating or meeting with members of other countries but get to the end of it and have no solution,” she said.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

news

A look into the lives of ‘Queer Eye’ personalities

By Abbey Cutrer news@kykernel.com

Antoni Porowski and Bobby Berk from the Netflix show “Queer Eye” visited the University of Kentucky Singletary Center on Tuesday, March 1, for an interview with the Student Activities Board (SAB).

The president of SAB, Breona Link, said this event is meant to be a look into Porowski’s and Berk’s lives in a more personal way that viewers don’t get to see on the show.

Attendees of the event described themselves as “huge fans” and were all there for similar but unique reasons.

Freshman Kamryn Tucker came to the event for two main reasons. “I am a huge fan of the show, crazy fan, and I’ve gotten into it with my aunt who actually had a hard time coming out to our family and I did as well,” Tucker said. “That really brought us together, then we found out about the show.”

The second reason behind Tucker’s attendance is her major. “I love all five of them, but Bobby most importantly because I’m going into interior design, so it will be really interesting to hear his point of view,” she said.

After moderator Samantha Valentino introduced the two “Queer Eye” members, the audience cheered for a full minute before settling down to let Porowski and Berk begin.

The conversation began with background and then flowed through humorous stories of behind-thescenes moments during the filming of the show.

Porowski talked about his memories regarding the original “Queer Eye” show.

“I remember my sisters would watch it and at that point, I remember the only representation of anything queer whatsoever on TV was ‘Will and Grace’ and ‘Queer Eye,’” he said.

“With ‘Queer Eye,’ it was like ‘Oh my gosh, five gay men being themselves.’”

“My heart is actually beating thinking about it, because I remember how nervous I was. It felt like I was watching something weirdly illegal. It’s kind of like how I went to see Brokeback Mountain alone in the theatre and balled my eyes out,” he said. “I wouldn’t admit to myself that I liked it because I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know what I liked.”

Similarly, Berk said he loves the original ‘Queer Eye,’ and he still remem-

ABBEY CUTRER I STAFF "Queer Eye" members Antoni Porowski and Bobby Berk speak at an SAB event on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, at the UK Singletary Center in Lexington, Kentucky.

bers where he was when he watched the first episode of the series.

“For me, it was the first time I saw real live gay people on TV,” Berk said.

“It had to do with growing up religious. The church would tell me ‘You’re never going to be anything, you’re never going to accomplish anything, gays

are never going to be accepted, you’re never going to find love, family, or success in your career,’ but the men in Queer Eye showed me I could.”

After deep background, the two gave humorous insights about Tan France, another ‘Queer Eye’ member. Porowski said France’s guilty food pleasure is

straight squirt cheese, which is very unlike him because he typically eats everything with a knife and fork.

To close, Valentino asked for advice from the two, specifically for people struggling with their identity.

“You always come to this pressure to label

yourself this or that, just be you,” Berk answered.

“Don’t feel the pressure to define yourself; you’re the only one that can be you and you’re the best version of yourself, and don’t compare your journey with someone else's.”

Porowski closed by saying, “Live and let live! Just don't be a d*ck!”

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Thursday, March 3, 2022

news

Student Press Freedom Day: The right to speak freely

By Evelyn Mickschl news@kykernel.com

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” This freedom of speech and of the press was always available to citizens, but not always available to students.

Student Press Freedom Day celebrates the day that students earned the right to freedom of speech with the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case.

Tinker v. Des Moines was a 1969 Supreme Court case contesting over three students who

were suspended for their peaceful protest of the Vietnam War during school hours. The student newspaper had published an article about the plans students had to wear black armbands as a form of silent protest.

The school retaliated by creating a policy banning the armbands, but three students came to school wearing them anyway.

The three were suspended until they agreed to return without the armbands.

With the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union, a national nonprofit organization founded in the 1920s, the three took the conflict to the courts.

The case made it to the Supreme Court, where the judges decided that students do not “shed their constitutional rights

KY KERNEL

Are you a current UK student with a flair for the creative?

The Kernel is looking for student creators to include work in a special literary edition of the paper hitting the racks on March 24!

To submit unpublished pieces of art, poetry, photography or writing for consideration, please reach out to Kernel Editor-in-Chief Rayleigh Deaton at rdeaton@kykernel.com

by March 12.

8 | kentucky kernel

to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

In practical terms, this means that unless school officials can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that student speech will result in a substantial disruption of normal school activities or an invasion of the rights of others, student speech cannot be punished or stopped.

Student Press Freedom Day was organized by the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) in order to bring attention to similar cases across America and to celebrate the progress made so far.

Every year, the day has a theme created by the SPLC. This year’s theme is Unmute Yourself.

“Over the last two years, we frequently start talking on a Zoom call or the like, not remembering

our mic is off, and another person has to gently remind us,” said SPLC member Candace Bowen.

“Some students have the same reaction after facing censorship and criticism – they forget they have a voice.”

Student press is extremely important during the pandemic because student journalists are at the front lines of the issue. They can directly see the effects of the COVID-19 measures schools are putting out, and they can also make a difference if conditions are unsafe.

At the Kernel, student journalists are able to speak without censorship, shown in articles like “Former UK employee suspected of illegally entering dorm rooms faces multiple charges” by Allie Walters, and “Safety on campus:

Is UK doing enough?” by Sophia Shoemaker. Both articles could have been censored, as they could be seen as potentially causing substantial disruption to UK through causing students to lose trust in UK, possibly even leaving because of that.

The Kernel is able to publish articles openly questioning UK because of the financial and editorial freedom it has, but that is not an option in many schools across America.

For those student newspapers who cannot speak as freely as the Kernel does, the SPLC has helped publish resources to defend their rights.

The SPLC also provides training and legal assistance to student journalists and the educators who work with them.

Sign up for the Kentucky Kernel newsletter for FREE! Go to kykernel.com and find the paper airplane on the homepage to stay up to date on everything UK!

Thursday, March 3, 2022

features

Hitting the road: UK clubs that travel

By Kaitlyn Skaggs features@kykernel.com

At the University of Kentucky, it is not just athletic teams that travel out of state for competitions — successful clubs and organizations compete on sometimes national levels traveling as far away as Illinois or Minnesota.

UK senior Garrison Page, president of the UK Quiz Bowl team, found himself drawn to the academic competition aspect of Quiz Bowl when he joined his school’s team in eighth grade. He remained a committed member throughout his high school career naturally as a lover of trivia and reading. Page joined as a freshman at UK and after his first year on the university’s Quiz Bowl team, he became president.

Last semester, the Quiz Bowl team traveled to tournaments in Illinois, Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky, with the two out-ofstate tournaments being nationally recognized competitions.

Usually, the organization tries to compete in three tournaments a semester and organize one for high school students to attend, as both a fundraiser and a way of recruiting future members.

The ACF Nationals tournament in Minnesota might require potential air travel plans since it would be a 16-hour drive otherwise. For their regular tournaments, however, the Quiz Bowl team has traveled by roads.

“Typically, we just drive to these tournaments and organize people by car or by team and reimburse drivers for their fuel spent. We kind of run pretty efficiently in terms of that,” Page said.

Traveling for tournaments

poses a love-hate relationship for some, however.

“To save money, we’ll wake up at the crack of dawn, often before 5 a.m. sometimes, to make it to a tournament a day away without having to rent a hotel room,” UK graduate student and longtime Quiz Bowl team member Austin Smith said. “But the friendships I’ve made from those long drives are irreplaceable.”

The Quiz Bowl organization raises money to reimburse its drivers and pay for registration by hosting fundraisers and obtaining Student Government grants from UK. “I think we’re going to end up eating the entire grant with just registrations,” Page said. “The rest [of the funds] will probably have to come from our tournament we host in the spring and the tournament we hosted last fall for the high schoolers.”

The Mock Trial club, another UK organization that travels out of state for competitions, recently got a bid to attend the opening rounds championship in Atlanta. The organization’s president, junior Chris Beebout, found his club through Campus Ruckus as a freshman and now leads the organization.

There are typically two tournaments during the first semester and two the second semester of every academic year. Beebout has experienced three different types of competition seasons, spanning from fully in-person to fully online to this year’s hybrid tournament season.

The tournament they attended, held at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, has thus far been the only in-person tournament they’ve been to this

year. With a bid to the opening rounds championship in two weeks, the Mock Trial team can expect to travel a bit more before finishing off their competition season.

Holding tournaments virtually has allowed the Mock Trial team to compete against schools they wouldn’t have otherwise met.

“We go against teams all over the place, especially in our virtual tournaments,” Beebout said. “We see all sorts of schools and some pretty elite schools as well. We’ve gone against some Ivy Leagues, that kind of thing.

That’s always really fun.”

As an entirely student-led program, the Mock Trial team does all of their organizing themselves: gathering materials and inventory, lining up drivers for the trek to out-of-state tournaments and renting Red Roof Inns for the night.

The funding of their travels typically varies year to year. The 2020-21 academic year’s tournaments were fully on Zoom and prohibited the team from holding a fundraiser.

“If we have our Mock Trial team members judge high school tournaments, like volunteer to help out at them, we get paid for that. We bring in little different side hustles here and there to bring in money,” Mock Trial vice president and senior Molly Cooke said.

What the year’s funds can’t cover, team members have to pay on their own. If those members are unable to fully fund their way to the competition, though, they should not necessarily give up hope of attending.

“We are always willing to talk with team members to make flex-

KAITLYN SKAGGS | STAFF UK senior Molly Cooke, the vice president of UK Mock Trial, poses for a photo on UK's campus on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Lexington, Kentucky.

ible payment plans for membership or travel so that finances are never a barrier to participation,” Beebout said.

As for more sports-oriented organizations, the UK Women’s Ultimate Frisbee club traveled for tournaments three times last semester, once to Indiana and twice to Michigan. This semester, they have already traveled to Tennessee and plan on making their way to Ohio and Indiana.

Comprised of three presidents, the Women’s Ultimate Frisbee club, also known by their unofficial team name of Monarchy, is led by captain Molly Merchant as well as Tori McCormick and Kate Rhodes.

“As president, I share the responsibility with two other presidents while we work to coordinate travel accommodations, bid fees for tournaments, dues, field reservations for practices and anything outside of the actual game play,” Merchant said.

“The captain’s role, on the other

hand, oversees the actions on the field, such as who is playing, motivating the team and leading the team.”

The team competes once a month, and the travel for outof-state tournaments is organized by the presidents. In order to fund its travels, the Women’s Ultimate Frisbee club uses club sports sponsorships, player dues and even held a fundraiser tournament last semester.

With their last two tournaments being held in Ohio and Indiana along with a chance to compete in the national tournament in California, Merchant is hopeful and grateful.

“As a team member I have made lifelong friends. Not only does each player have different identities, but we have also learned and formed a love for Ultimate Frisbee in a different capacity,” Merchant said. “We hope to get better but ultimately win [the tournaments] and use that work for nationals in California.”

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Thursday, March 3, 2022

The power of Howard:

An all-time great seeks final stand in postseason play

10 | kentucky kernel

Thursday, March 3, 2022

By Hunter Shelton sports@kykernel.com

Rhyne Howard played her final game inside Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, Feb. 27, scoring 32 points in a 90-62 drubbing of Auburn on what was dubbed “Rhyne Howard Day.” Her performance was the best ever by a Wildcat senior on senior day, further cementing her legacy as one of the greatest to ever put on a Kentucky basketball jersey, male or female.

In 109 career games, Howard has led her team in scoring 70 times, rebounding 59 times and assists on 39 occasions. She has scored double-digit points in 97 games, 32 of which she has scored 25-plus.

She has notched 2,185 career points, second most in Kentucky history. She is one of three players — mens or womens — to reach the 2,000 point mark in 100 games or less.

Howard’s name will forever be plastered over the Kentucky record books. She currently sits in second place in all-time scoring average at 20 points per game, she is also tied for second in field goals made at 757. Her 272 3-pointers are good for first place ever, while her 37.9 percent 3-point percentage is third all-time. Her 2.367 steals per game is enough for fourth place in school history.

This season, Howard has nearly single-handedly carried Kentucky to its 15-11 record. She is averaging 20.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. She has accumulated 85 assists, 67 steals, 58 3-pointers and 34 blocks. She ranks 16th nationally in points per game and first in the SEC. She was named to the All-SEC First Team for the fourth consecutive season. She is just the second player in the last 14 years to achieve the feat and will go down as a two-time SEC Player of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year and one-time SEC All-Freshman and SEC All-Defensive Team honoree.

Behind Howard, Kentucky has re-inserted itself in contention for a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Things looked bleak in early February, as UK went on a 1-8 skid, plunging out of the Top-25 rankings and SEC contention.

Since then, UK closed out the regular season on a sixgame winning streak, in which Howard averaged 20.3 points.

Kentucky is now set to take on Mississippi State in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday, March 3, as they attempt to make one final case to the selection committee as to why they should make the field of 68.

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF Kentucky Wildcats guard Rhyne Howard (5) walks off of the court after the UK vs. Auburn womens basketball game on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.

On the far right: Kentucky Wildcats guard Rhyne Howard (5) shoots a 3-pointer.

On the top left: Kentucky Wildcats guard Rhyne Howard (5) wears her crown and blows a bubble after being checked out of the game.

On the bottom left: Kentucky Wildcats guard Rhyne Howard (5) celebrates after making a 3-pointer.

fall 2021 | 11

Thursday, March 3, 2022

opinions

Get out of a rut, walk on a sidewalk

By Sarah Michels

opinions@kykernel.com

It’s an all-too-common story. A rushed student chooses to off-road, taking a shortcut through the grass to save precious seconds. Another student, noticing that the deviation from the sidewalk brings no penalty and seeing no harm, decides to follow. Soon, everyone is using the unofficial grass pathway. The soil becomes compacted, losing necessary porousness for roots to breathe, and the grass dies.

The most recent of such grass ruts is juxtaposed in the foreground of an otherwise picturesque image — the sleek, modern, newly renovated J. David Rosenberg College of Law. The sign directing students to avoid walking in the grass might as well be invisible.

The true harm of perpetuating these grass ruts is also hidden to many students. They not only make campus ugly, but also exacerbate stormwater accumulation and flooding, can cost the university tax money and make custodial staff’s jobs harder.

“If you do walk through a muddy rut and your shoes get dirty and you go into a building and you get mud on the floors, there's more work for the custodial staff to have to do now to go clean up that mess,” Stacy Borden, UK grounds manager, said.

The grass rut conundrum is similar to the shopping cart litmus test. Everyone can agree that the responsible, objectively good thing to do is to return the shopping cart to its corral. But while the act of returning the cart isn’t difficult, it’s less convenient

12 | kentucky kernel

AMANDA BRAMAN | STAFF The grass short cut on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, at Memorial Hall in Lexington, Kentucky.

and there is no punishment for not doing so. So why should one return the cart when they could leave it somewhere random in the parking lot instead? Why should students walk on the sidewalks when they could use grass shortcuts?

The answer is because it’s the objectively right, unselfish thing to do. Those extra seconds that won’t actually make any difference shouldn’t be worth the extra toil of campus workers. Grounds workers have to till the ground to loosen the compacted soil, oversee weeks to months of reseeding/resodding and place posts and chain around the ruts to keep pedestrians from interrupting the

restoration process, Borden said.

Sometimes, like in an instance a few years ago at Willy T. Young library, they have to plant trees where the rut occurs.

“If there's a sidewalk interchange or if you can see across the way that that's the door you're going to, you're just gonna walk that way,” he said. “We planted a bunch of trees, evergreens and deciduous trees all in that area to block the sight line from point A to point B, and nobody's walked that way since.”

If it’s such a huge problem, why not just install sidewalks where ruts develop? Give students what they want, right? It’s not always that simple, Borden

said.

“At some point, there's just sidewalks everywhere, because everyone's gonna want to go their own way, and we can't just pave all of campus,” he said. “The turf areas create a space for people to get off the concrete to throw out a blanket or a chair or something and have a place to read or throw a Frisbee, just have some fun.”

The importance of green spaces on campus is deeper than an aesthetic, though. Sidewalks are impervious surfaces — they do not absorb rainwater like the ground — and as such, they cannot mitigate flooding or stormwater accumulation. According to the City of Lexington’s Water

Quality department, stormwater picks up pollutants like motor oil, pet waste, fertilizer and litter, when then flow into storm drains, through the sewer system and directly to creeks and streams without being treated.

For this reason, non-residential properties like the University of Kentucky are subject to an annual Water Quality Management Fee calculated by their impervious surface square footage. As of 2020, UK had 17,773,243 square feet of impervious surfaces (49.5% of its total surface area), which would cost the university approximately $37,181.62 based on this year’s rate. That may be chump change for the university, but it’s chump change that could be better utilized for something else.

Sometimes, when it makes sense, the grounds workers bend to pedestrians’ wills. They do this sometimes even when it doesn’t make sense, like in the sorority quad.

“There's three parallel sidewalks with each other through the middle of that space because people were walking on them,” Borden said. “So they put sidewalks in and there's no rhyme or reason to it. It really makes no sense from a design perspective.”

Don’t make the grounds workers do the same thing near the freshly minted law building, or anywhere else, for that matter.

Don’t force them to use visual tricks to stop you from taking shortcuts. Don’t be the selfish person who abandons the shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot.

Don’t be a jerk. Walk on the sidewalks.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

The future of your financial journey at UK

By Editorial Board opinions@kykernel.com

The future of tuition payments doesn’t look entirely bright. College is downright unaffordable for many, and tuition has increased for the past 10 academic years at the University of Kentucky.

House Bill 452 would prevent tuition from increasing throughout an individual's time in college, but is it really noble if the General Assembly is only taking steps to improve something they made wrong in the first place?

House Bill 452 proposes to “amend KRS 164.020 to prohibit the Council on Postsecondary Education from raising tuition for a postsecondary education institution more than 5% a year for resident students and 7% a year for nonresident students; provide a 4-year tuition freeze for an enrolled resident students.”

In Kentucky, tuition rates for public universities are determined by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, which “serves as the state's chief higher education thought leader and policy advisor to the Governor and General Assembly” according to its website.

If the General Assembly and its advisors are, at large, responsible for

tuition rates being unmanageable in the first place, it is merely a savior complex that is driving them to file this bill to remedy what they have already done.

The bill would be helpful in the case of Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) money, for example, which is a fixed-rate, merit-based scholarship awarded to students from Kentucky high schools who earned a 2.5 GPA or better in high school. The amount awarded depends on several factors, including standardized test scores.

In the case of KEES money, students benefit less if the rate of tuition continues to increase throughout their college career, and the scholarship begins to cover less of a percentage of the cost for them to attend college.

In that sense, no matter how hard students work in high school, they might still end up with a sizable amount of student debt by the time they graduate.

House Bill 452 would help scholarships to not depreciate in value, but only to an extent. The bill doesn’t prevent tuition from increasing as a whole, but rather prevents a variation in the cost of tuition for an individual from year to year. In this regard, an individual’s percentage of financial support would

not be variable throughout their time in college.

Although not having constant tuition increases throughout one’s college career can help students’ financial planning, the General Assembly is not doing anything noble by filing this bill, even if it passes. They are taking a step in the right direction, not fixing the wreckage of someone else’s choices.

The General Assembly had the power to remedy the issues happening with the increasingly unaffordable tuition rates at public universities all along, so why wait to fix things until now, when so many are already buried in debt?

Going to college is emphasized in American culture, though it is increasingly difficult to afford the rising tuition of public universities like UK. According to LendEDU, on average, a student in Kentucky incurs $28,438 in student loans, which will take them 11.88 years to pay off.

There is room for more tuition increases, even if House Bill 452 is passed, perpetuating the issue of student debt even while making the financial burden more predictable for each individual.

Although there is potential for tuition to continue at a steady increase, the bill does limit how much

opinions

MARTHA MCHANEY I STAFF The Kentucky State Capitol dome breaks through the morning fog on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021, in Frankfort, Kentucky.

the increase can be, slightly removing the burden of worry from someone who is planning to attend UK in the future.

As it stands right now, students enroll at UK not knowing exactly what their debt will look like at the end of their college journey because tuition increases at a variable rate each year, so the debt could be more or less than the student had planned for.

In light of continuous tuition increases, UK president Eli Capilouto was given a $200,000 raise in December 2021, bringing his salary to $1,035,646.

Capilouto is getting paid

more, but students have found themselves having to pay more each year, sometimes putting them further into debt, to attend the university.

House Bill 452 will not stop the constant increase in tuition that has been seen at UK for the past 10 years, but it could help students better assess their financial situation and decide whether or not to enroll in a Kentucky university.

While students would likely be grateful that the amount they are paying for tuition would not be variable throughout their college experience if House

Bill 452 passes, they should also recognize that the same individuals who are instilling these measures are the ones who got them into this mess in the first place.

It is not bad to correct one’s mistakes and learn from them, but the General Assembly should not take all the credit for their contributions to remedying the situation and none of the blame for the issue itself.

In this day and age where college is less affordable by the year, it is important to note why it costs so much, who set the cost and what the future looks like.

fall 2021 | 13

Thursday, March 3, 2022

opinions

Mental health or political involvement: We should not have to choose

By Emily Girard opinions@kykernel.com

On Monday, Feb. 14, 2022, Louisville mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg was shot at in his campaign office. Greenberg was not physically injured.

Quintez Brown, a 21-year-old activist, former Louisville Courier Journal intern and former UK student, was charged with the shooting. He would later plead not guilty to the charges of attempted murder and wanton endangerment.

There is no way to fully understand what motivated Brown to shoot at Greenberg, but the widespread opinion is that Brown’s mental health was severely compromised at the time of the attack.

His attorney said he was “severely mentally ill and needs treatment, not prison.”

The Louisville Community Bail Fund agreed, posting Brown’s $100,000 bail the day after it was set. Brown is now on house arrest, and the group made a statement that it is currently connecting Brown with mental health services. Though they also condemned the shooting, Chanelle Helm, an organizer at Black Lives Matter Louisville with connections to the bail fund, said that “jails and prisons do not rehabilitate people.”

No information has been released on if Brown had any previous diagnoses or if his mental state had only recently taken a turn for the worse. However, when reading this case, I found myself thinking about the recent downturn in mental health many

14 | kentucky kernel

MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF UK athletes, parents, coaches and supporters march from William T. Young Library during the UK womens basketball team's social justice march on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Lexington, Kentucky.

people have experienced over the past two years, especially members of marginalized groups.

Current events are taking a toll on the members of these groups in a way that many others do not understand.

I cannot put myself in Brown’s shoes, nor tell you what it feels like to be a person of color living in a community like Louisville and seeing it become one of the forefronts of the Black Lives Matter movement after the March 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor.

However, as a queer, neurodivergent, gender non-conforming person, I can offer some perspective on what it is like to live in a world that was not built for you and at

times is actively trying to erase you.

The current political environment is unstable, to say the least.

Spend enough time on the Internet, and you’ll see people’s human rights getting violated left and right — and people arguing over whether or not these violations are justified. One way or another, being exposed to these debates day in and day out will make anyone’s opinions on humanity and its future very unstable. According to a study published in PLOS ONE by Kevin Smith, Matthew Hibbing and John Hibbing, 38% of surveyed Americans said that politics has caused them to be stressed.

Of those polled, 20% have seen

friendships damaged due to politics, and nearly 17% said their lives would be better if they didn’t focus so much on politics.

This would make anyone want to stay out of politics for the sake of their mental health. However, for many, that is easier said than done.

Take me, for instance. How can I stay out of politics when it took the Supreme Court to allow me to marry the people I want? I have a uterus, too; if I and others like me do not stay politically conscious, we may find that we have indirectly allowed laws to be enacted in our state that, for example, forbade us from getting an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

The situation is even more dire for people of color, who have to deal with all of this in addition to decades of discrimination and police brutality and the legacy of white supremacy and slave labor that is ingrained in the history of this country’s founding. Faced with this reality, one can see that some people cannot afford to not be involved in politics, especially when their civil rights or bodily autonomy can be erased with the passage of a single law.

Brown was an activist; I cannot help but wonder how heard and noticed he felt when he made the decision to attack Greenberg.

Did this come from a personal desire for violence, or was Brown angry at a system that he constantly fought in order to just have his voice heard and his needs considered? Perhaps he thought that the only way to be noticed in a society that systematically ignores him was to take drastic measures.

Again, I am not condoning Brown’s actions. I am saying, however, that the connections between politics and mental health, especially for members of marginalized groups, needs to be investigated further and acted upon so that incidents like this do not happen again.

A grand jury will consider Brown’s case, and his next court date is scheduled for March 21.

Hopefully, by then, more people will realize how much politics takes out of people and try to ease their way to recognition and satisfaction with society. That way, people will not feel like they need to commit acts of violence to be heard.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

sports

UK fully healthy once again in win over Ole Miss

By Hunter Shelton sports@kykernel.com

No. 7 Kentucky (24-6, 13-4 Southeastern Conference) fought off a feisty Ole Miss team (13-17, 4-13 SEC) 83-72 on senior night inside Rupp Arena on Tuesday, March 1.

The super-senior tandem of Kellan Grady and Davion Mintz got one final send off from Big Blue Nation as the Wildcats completed a perfect regular season at home, going 18-0.

Combining for 15 points on 6-13 shooting, the duo played their parts en route to UK’s 13th SEC victory of the season, keeping the Wildcats nestled in the race for second place in the conference.

While Tuesday night was one to celebrate “Grandad” and “Uncle Dave” as TyTy Washington Jr. put it, the win over the Rebels was a total team effort, signifying that the Cats are fully healthy once again.

“It's just good that we got through the injuries.

It hurt us last game. We were a little bit out of sync last game. I felt this game we looked a little more in sync,” UK head coach John Calipari said.

In Kentucky’s previous outing, the Cats fell

75-73 to No. 14 Arkansas in Fayetteville on Feb. 26.

Returning for UK was the usual starting backcourt of Washington and Sahvir Wheeler, both of whom missed the Wildcats’ games against Alabama and LSU. Despite combining for 24 points, eight assists and four rebounds against the Razorbacks, there was clearly some rust that needed to be shaken off when the two first stepped on the court.

“I just needed a little bit of time,” Washington said.

“When you're just coming back from injury, especially a little nagging injury, it always takes time, but I feel good. Foot, ankle, everything feels good.”

Both guards looked and played like they were back to normal on Tuesday, as Wheeler scored 16 points and collected seven assists, while Washington poured in 14 points and four assists of his own.

The pair shot 11-19, turning the ball over just three times in 58 minutes combined. Wheeler himself noticed a difference in his performance against the Rebels.

“I got some of that rust off, getting in rhythm, scrimmaging and practicing,” he said. “Getting some extra time, shooting

and handling the ball, doing different passes. Making sure I feel comfortable with my wrist.”

As Calipari has said many times this season, his players are not machines, they are not robots. It’s unreasonable to immediately expect stellar performances from players who are returning from injuries.

Washington was a prime example of this against Arkansas. Though he scored 10 points, he made just three of 12 shots against the Razorbacks coming off the bench, the worst shooting percentage of any Wildcat who took more than three shots.

The freshman found his groove on Tuesday, at one point scoring seven points in a row for Kentucky.

Sometimes, all a player needs is to see the ball go through the basket.

“I was just happy to see the ball go through the hole. That actually just, like, boosted my confidence,” Washington said.

“Just seeing the ball go in that many times in that time span was just very happy for me and I just felt finally feeling back to myself a little bit.”

While the all-star guards were getting back into the swing of things, Oscar Tshiebwe continued

MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF Kentucky Wildcats guard TyTy Washington Jr. shoots the ball during the UK vs. Ole Miss mens basketball game on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Lexington, Kentucky.

his monstrous tear against the Rebels.

Totaling a team-high 18 points and 15 rebounds, Tshiebwe earned his 24th double-double on the season, while simultaneously moving into third place on the single-season rebound list in program history.

At this point in the season, his absurd stat-lines are no longer shocking, but simply a staple of Kentucky basketball.

Not only does Tshiebwe’s presence make Kentucky a title contender, it instills confidence and faith in his teammates.

“Having a guy like Oscar, my confidence is very high,” Washington said. “I know if I miss it, 95 percent of the time he's going to grab the rebound and put it back up, so we're still getting the basket either way.”

Through 30 games, Tshiebwe is averaging 16.9 points and 15.3 rebounds per game. He is the leading rebounder in the nation, while his double-double count is good for second best amongst all players, showcasing how valuable he is to the success of Kentucky.

“He’s a reliable option

to get us some baskets, like he’s shown throughout the season,” Wheeler said.

“And defensively, with his hands and him being able to challenge shots and his ridiculous rates of rebounds is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. So, Oscar, his game and his game play, speaks for himself. He’s very important for our team.”

With one regular season game remaining until the SEC Tournament, all of the pieces are finally back in the puzzle for the Wildcats as they look to cut down the nets for the ninth time this April.

fall 2021 | 15

Thursday, March 3, 2022

sports

Kentucky womens basketball prepares for SEC Tournament

By Cole Park sports@kykernel.com

With its final regular season game in the books, Kentucky womens basketball looks ahead to the SEC Tournament to prove it belongs within the field of 68.

Kentucky, despite being far from the field during its 1-8 skid to start SEC play, now finds itself projected as an 11-seed in Autumn Johnson’s bracket prediction for the NCAA. Being an 11-seed would force the Wildcats into the first-four games, currently projected to face Northwestern as of March 1.

Finishing the season with a six-game win streak, Kentucky righted a few of its mistakes, getting revenge on Vanderbilt, blowing out Auburn after winning close on the road and getting quality wins over potential NCAA Tournament teams such as Arkansas and Missouri.

“I have a lot of confidence in this team,” Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy said. “I believe in them. I’ve seen what they can do in practice and it showed in spurts in different games but didn’t show up in the win/loss column. We hit a tough road but it’s paying off for us now. We’re seeing the fruits of our labor. It’s good to see our team come out on top.”

While the effort earned them a path back into the tournament, Elzy’s Cats will be looking to make a splash in the SEC Tournament in the coming week, determined to potentially earn a true spot in the field.

“This team always had great potential,” Elzy said. “We are peaking at the right time. I’m so proud of this team for their resilience and their toughness. We could’ve laid down when things were not going well for us but we didn’t, we found a way to get the job done. This team is really close.

16 | kentucky kernel

MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF Kentucky Wildcats guard Jazmine Massengill (3) drives the ball during the UK vs. Auburn womens basketball game on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.

We’ve had a lot of meetings, a lot of talks, a lot of tears, but we figured out a way to get it done and we hope to stay here.”

Kentucky, as the No. 7 seed in tournament, is currently set to face-off with No. 10 seed Mississippi State, who it previously beat as part of its season-ending win streak, notching the largest fourth quarter comeback in program history.

“We go back and watch [the film]; there’s always areas to grow,” Elzy said.

“We do not want to come back from 15 down again, but it’s going to be a great game. Mississippi State is a tough team led

by Anastasia Hayes.”

The bracket would then project the Cats to face off with No. 2 LSU, who it fell to in Baton Rouge on Jan. 30 by nine points,

with the loss being one of Kentucky’s closest of the 1-8 period.

Though the overall record still shows wear-and-tear from the infamous skid, Kentucky has been on fire in its last six games, winning by an average of 13 points, including three blow-out victories.

See SEC TOURNEY on page 17

Thursday, March 3, 2022

sports SEC TOURNEY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16

Star guard Rhyne Howard, who was projected as the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft for much of the year, dropped out of the No. 1 spot after some passive play down the stretch, and since then has averaged 26 points per game during an average of 32 minutes played.

Howard also dropped 32 points during “Rhyne Howard Day,” a tribute to the star in her final home game inside Memorial Coliseum, the most ever by a UK senior on their senior day.

In the process of scoring 32 points, Howard also connected

on a school record eight 3-pointers while wearing the jersey of her teammate Blair Green, UK’s usual 3-point shooter who missed the season with an injury.

“It meant a lot to both of us,” Howard said after the game. “I have her powers, she’s the one that usually shoots the threes. She wasn’t able to play my last home game with me, but her jersey deserves to be worn – she’s always been there [for me].”

Howard is far from the only Wildcat to erupt in recent games, as junior forward Dre’una Edwards has also been a spark plug off the bench for Kentucky, averaging 23 points with three double-doubles during the win streak.

“Inserting Dre does make us MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF Kentucky Wildcats guard Jada Walker (11) keeps the baLl away from a defender during the UK vs. Auburn womens basketball game on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.

MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF Kentucky Wildcats forward Dre'una Edwards (44) tries to make a move during the UK vs. Auburn womens basketball game on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.

a different team,” Elzy said. “I like Dre on the floor at any time whether she starts or comes off the bench, she’s going to play. We need her energy. She has that fire and that passion that we need on both ends of the floor.”

Other notable players such as lone freshman Jada Walker have also come into their own during the winning stretch, with Walker averaging 26 minutes played this season, scoring double-digits 14 times, including 21 in Kentucky’s aforementioned loss in Baton Rouge.

Walker also earned a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team for her efforts, with the teams being voted on by league coaches.

“She’s a fearless competitor,” Elzy said. “I’m so proud of her.

One of the first things we told her when she got on campus was, ‘Don’t back down, we’re going to need what you bring.’ I think she did that, she definitely puts in the

work and she deserves it.”

While not contributing as much on the box score, previous bench players such as Nyah Leveretter and Emma King have earned solid minutes on the court, with the former even starting in Kentucky’s last five games.

Though the Cats still have an uphill battle ahead of them in the SEC Tournament, the team has proven to be much more of a contender than previously thought.

Kentucky will certainly be a team to look out for in March, with the team ready to pull off some upsets and perhaps even winning the league’s auto-bid on its path to the big dance.

“It’s going to be a fun tournament,” Elzy said. “It’s a great experience and I want them to take in the moment, that’s the fun part of being an athlete in March.

They understand what’s at stake.

We have to be focused and locked in on what we need to get done

while we’re there.”.

Kentucky’s first matchup against Mississippi State is currently scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m. EST on Thursday, March 3, from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

It meant a lot to both of us. I have her powers, she’s the one that usually shoots the threes. She wasn’t able to play my last home game with me, but her jersey deserves to be worn – she’s always been there [for me].

- Rhyne Howard about teammate Blair Green fall 2021 | 17

Thursday, March 3, 2022

sports

Kentucky baseball prepares for biggest test of the season

By Cole Park sports@kykernel.com

Kentucky baseball currently checks in at 8-1 on the season as it prepares for its biggest test outside of conference play, in the TCU Horned Frogs.

TCU, who made the NCAA Regionals last season, sits at 7-1 on the season with wins over the likes of San Diego State, Houston and Nebraska.

Kentucky, for its part, has two series sweeps under its belt, sweeping both its season opening series at Jacksonville State and its first home series against Western Michigan.

Against Jacksonville State, Kentucky won by a combined margin of 20 runs, out-scoring the Gamecocks 15-1 to close out the series.

Against the Broncos of Western Michigan, UK again recorded several high run totals, with its lowest total of runs scored in the series being 13.

Kentucky won game two of the series 13-12 after walking off the Broncos in the bottom of the 12th, trailing by as many as eight runs in the battle.

UK also won two solo stands against Bellarmine and Evansville, winning both games by just one run

18 | kentucky kernel

each.

The win over Evansville stands as Kentucky’s most recent contest on the schedule, beating the Purple Aces 5-4 on Wednesday, March 2.

The Wildcats suffered their lone loss of the season at home on Tuesday, March 1, to Western Kentucky, falling short 7-5 with the Hilltoppers scoring both go-ahead runs in the top of the ninth inning.

The biggest point of contention for the Cats going forward, and what was primarily at fault in the loss, has been the starting pitching.

Despite returning much of its pitching core in the offseason, Kentucky pitchers have struggled when starting on the mound, often pitching for just four innings each before being pulled.

In the Cats’ most recent win over Evansville, Kentucky starter Wyatt Hudepohl pitched just 2.2 innings, allowing five hits and four runs – the only pitcher in the game to allow earned runs against him.

Kentucky’s bats, on the other hand, have been very alive thus far, helping carry the load in UK’s wins, scoring an average of nine runs per game, with the maximum checking in at

16 runs in one game.

Graduate student Oraj Anu currently leads the Wildcats in RBI, accumulating 13 thus far, though the likes of senior infielder Jacob Plastiak and junior infielder Chase Estep are not far behind with nine each. Fourteen total Cats have recorded RBI on the season.

Focusing in on home runs, Plastiak and Estep are tied on the season as Kentucky’s leaders with three homers each, though three other Wildcats have also recorded home runs, including redshirt freshman Nolan McCarthy, who hit a grand slam to help propel Kentucky past Jacksonville State during the series.

Looking to TCU, the Horned Frogs have allowed an average of 2.8 runs per game, with seven runs allowed in its lone loss to Cal. While Kentucky’s bats have been hot this season, games such as the Evansville win, in which the Cats went scoreless for the last five innings of play, prove that they can’t be the only solution UK has for dealing with its opponents.

Kentucky’s bullpen has been strong thus far, securing victory in every game apart from the Western Kentucky duel, but if the starting pitching is unable

MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF Kentucky Wildcats pitcher Seth Logue (25) throws the ball during the UK vs. Bellarmine baseball game on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Kentucky.

to prevent an early lead from the Frogs, each game may get away from the Cats before they are even in it.

TCU averages seven runs scored per game, while Kentucky is averaging nearly five runs allowed per game and are without a quality win over a definitive postseason team.

Alleviating some of the concerns on the mound to start the game, Kentucky received a breath of fresh air against the Purple Aces as graduate student Mason Hazelwood returned from Tommy John surgery, fac-

ing two batters for the first time since March 27 of the season prior.

If Hazelwood is expected to be a strong starting caliber pitcher soon, he will provide much needed reinforcement to the pitching core struggling to find its identity this season.

With a bit of help on the mound in the early innings, Kentucky’s bullpen has proven effective on the season and its bats know how to score runs.

On paper the Wildcats are underdogs against TCU this week and likely in many a series come SEC

play as well, but not so much so that they can be counted out of any game they play.

Kentucky has been far from perfect this season, but it has shown that, with one minor scratch, it still knows how to win ball games, no matter how ugly or flashy those wins may be.

Kentucky’s first game against TCU is currently scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. EST on Friday, March 4, from Kentucky Proud Park, with subsequent games in the series on Saturday and Sunday.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

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Editor-in-Chief

Requirements: • A pplicant must be enrolled full-time on the UK Lexington Campus for the semester prior to and during the term as editor.

• Applicant must be in good academic (minimum 2.0 GPA), disciplinary and financial standing with the University at the time of application and during the term as editor.

• Applicant must have a minimum of one year's publications experience and be familiar with the operation of a magazine.

• Persons applying for the position who have not worked at the Kentucky Kernel must provide a recommendation from a previous employer, adviser or both.

Email a cover letter and résumé to Ryan Craig at ryan.craig@uky.edu.

Application materials are due Thursday, March 17, 2022. fall 2021 | 19